I admire old people who live by their wits, like the ancient American, a real estate man, whom I met in Galway years. He wore a badge on his lapel with the slogan: OLD AGE AND CUNNING WILL ALWAYS DEFEAT YOUTH AND TALENT. He told me he was eighty. He looked sixty. We had some … Read more
In 2015 comic Frankie Boyle penned a darkly titled article ‘What if David Cameron is an evil genius?’ Only slightly tongue-in-cheek, Boyle – citing plans to erase the Human Rights Act from U.K. law – wondered whether Cameron was, ‘A shrewd and malevolent psychopath who thinks two moves deeper into the game than any … Read more
It’s the grease that makes the economic wheels turn. But ask where your taxes go after you pay them; or how a bank makes a loan; or what it means when you hear central banks are ‘printing money,’ and you’ll get different answers depending on who you talk to. Why should you care? Because a … Read more
A hegemonic, neoliberal logic based upon competition, exploitation, and inequality appears to have largely supplanted democratic principles of community, interdependence, and solidarity. The National Association of Record Labels of Ireland (NARLI) is significant in this context – founded in 2016 to further independent music in Ireland by forging a co-operative, community involved in its production … Read more
As Washington swirls with the drama and intricacies of the impeachment enquiry, spare a thought for climate. Yes, our climate. Much was written in Europe, and elsewhere, about the remarkable Greta Thurnberg. The effectiveness of her singular obsession with the issue – seemingly aided by an Asperger’s condition that leaves her unaffected by social cues … Read more
In August of 1969 I was driving across Ireland with the late Bearnard Ó Riain, the older brother of a good friend of mine, the late Dinno Ryan. Most of my old friends are now ‘late’. We were going to join others in a mountain-walking weekend. Bearnard had participated in the nineteen-fifties IRA campaign in … Read more
Black Vulture You loom at Madzharovo then at Bosilovo roost at Kalanjevo. Black pilgrim cowl of the air crossing these skies, come, we are prone and torn, numbed, expecting your news. https://soundcloud.com/cassandra-voices/2020-04-13-t02-23-01pm-benkeatinge Cormorants at Dojran Lake The fisher Christs are drying their wings a great white pelican gawps and gives a wide September yawn a … Read more
Before even taking my seat, three times I was warned of the ‘gory content’ in Dylan Tighe’s redubbed rendition of ‘Salò’, or ‘120 Days of Sodom.’ Then announcements made at the start, noting our nearest fire exits, and the two-hour-and-ten minute performance length (sans interval), warned us again that we could leave at any time. … Read more
A Digest For most of us, the stomach is positioned around our middle. In East-Asian cultures, this area is usually considered the seat of the subjective self – the centre, from which we extend outward towards the world. Closer to home, we usually think of ourselves as residing somewhere behind the eyes, perhaps at … Read more
‘I say the word ‘forever’ less and less, the more I understand it.’ It’s a good line. I might get it tattooed on my chest. Or carved on my tombstone. During the heatwaves and increased storm warnings of the summer, I felt my heartbeat for the first time in a while. The seasons change so … Read more